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BAKUNIN, MIKHAIL (1814-1876)
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See also:BAKUNIN, MIKHAIL (1814-1876) , See also:Russian anarchist, was See also:born of an aristocratic See also:family at Torjok, in the See also:government of See also:Tver, in 1814. As an officer of the Imperial Guard, he saw service in See also:Poland, but resigned his See also:commission from a disgust of despotism aroused by witnessing the repressive methods employed against the Poles. He proceeded to See also:Germany, studied See also:Hegel, and soon got into See also:touch with the leaders of the See also:young See also:German See also:movement in See also:Berlin. Thence he went to See also:Paris, where he met See also:Proudhon and See also:George See also:Sand, and also made the acquaintance of the See also:chief See also:Polish exiles. From Paris he journeyed to See also:Switzerland, where he resided for some See also:time, taking an active See also:share in all socialistic movements. While in Switzerland he was ordered by the Russian government to return to See also:Russia, and on his refusal his See also:property was confiscated. In 1848, on his return to Paris, he published a violent tirade against Russia, which caused his See also:expulsion from See also:France. The revolutionary movement of 1848 gave him the opportunity of entering upon a violent See also:campaign of democratic agitation, and for his participation in the See also:Dresden insurrection of 1849 he was arrested and condemned to See also:death. The death See also:sentence, however, was commuted to imprisonment for See also:life, and he was eventually handed over to the Russian authorities, by whom he was imprisoned and finally sent to eastern See also:Siberia in 1855. He received permission to remove to the See also:Amur region, whence he succeeded in escaping, making his way through See also:Japan and the See also:United States to See also:England in 186x. He spent the See also:rest of his life in See also:exile in western See also:Europe, principally in Switzerland. In 1869 he founded the Social Democratic See also:Alliance, which, how-ever, dissolved in the same See also:year, and joined the See also:International (q.v.). In 1870 he attempted a rising at See also:Lyons on the principles afterwards exemplified by the Paris See also:Commune. At the See also:Hague See also:congress of the International in 1872 he was outvoted and expelled by the See also:Marx party. He retired to See also:Lugano in 1873 and died at See also:Bern on the 13th of See also:June 1876. Nothing can be clearer or more See also:frank and comprehensive in its destructiveness than the revolutionary See also:anarchism of Bakunin. He rejects all the ideal systems in every name and shape, from the See also:idea of See also:God downwards; and every See also:form of See also:external authority, whether emanating from the will of a See also:sovereign or from universal See also:suffrage. " The See also:liberty of See also:man," he says in his Dieu et l Etat (published posthumously in 1882) " consists solely in this, that he obeys the See also:laws of nature, because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been imposed upon him externally by any See also:foreign will whatsoever, human or divine, collective or individual." In this way will the whole problem of freedom be solved. that natural laws be ascertained by scientific See also:discovery, and the knowledge of them be universally diffused among the masses. Natural laws being thus recognized by every man for himself, he cannot but obey them, for they are the laws also of his own nature; and the need for See also:political organization,See also:administration and legislation will at once disappear. Nor will he admit of any privileged position or class, for " it is the peculiarity of See also:privilege and of every privileged position to kill the See also:intellect and See also:heart of man. The privileged man, whether he be privileged politically or economically, is a man depraved in intellect and heart." " In a word, we See also:object to all legislation, all authority, and all See also:influence, privileged, patented, See also:official and legal, even when it has proceeded from universal suffrage, convinced that it must always turn to the profit of a dominating and exploiting minority, against the interests of the immense See also:majority enslaved." Bakunin's methods of realizing his revolutionary See also:programme are not less frank and destructive than his principles. The revolutionist, as he would recommend him to be, is a consecrated man, who will allow no private interests or feelings, and no scruples of See also:religion, patriotism or morality, to turn him aside from his See also:mission, the aim of which is by all available means to overturn the existing society. (See ANARCHISM.) BA-KWIRI, a See also:Bantu nation of German Cameroon, See also:West See also:Africa. According to tradition they are migrants from the eastward. The " Brushmen," for that is the meaning of their name, are grouped in about sixty See also:separate clans. They are a lively intelligent See also:people, brave fighters and daring hunters, and in their love of songs, See also:music and elocution are See also:superior to many See also:negro races. Their domestic affections are strongly See also:developed. Their chief See also:physical peculiarity is the See also:great disparity between the See also:size and complexion of the sexes, most of the See also:women being much shorter and far lighter in See also:colour than the men. The Ba-Kwiri are generous and open-handed among themselves; but the See also:law of See also:blood for blood is mercilessly fulfilled, even in cases of accidental See also:homicide. Their religion is ancestor-See also:worship blended with See also:witchcraft and magic. They believe in See also:good and evil See also:spirits, those of the forests and seas being especially feared. In See also:common with their neighbours the See also:Dualla (q.v.) the Ba-Kwiri possess a curious See also:drum See also:language. By drum-tapping See also:news is conveyed from See also:clan to clan. Slaves and women are not allowed to See also:master this language, but all the initiated are See also:bound to repeat it so as to pass the messages on. The Ba-Kwiri have also a See also:horn language See also:peculiar to themselves. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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